The kingdom of Flevance. Once upon a time, this place had been a bastion of death and disease. But now, it was a bustling kingdom, brought back from the brink of ruin. A shame though that their benefactor had to be someone who was so utterly batshit insane as to write up the laws the kingdom had. I mean, being hung five times for simply blocking traffic? Dressing as a cheetah and sleeping with a fighting fish were punishments? The royalty had to be utterly insane, and whats worse was that the World Goverment allowed this stuff to go on. Sure, Gerard had planned to become a criminal monarch, but he wasn't insane.

And so he sat in the bar, a beer in hand, drinking as he waited for 'his' ship to be repaired. This was the first place he had turned up in and thankfully the prices for fixing up the hole on the boat was reasonable. The only problem was trying to come up with a reason why there was a hole there in the first place. Thankfully Gerard had managed to come up with something plausible. Being attacked by pirates or some nonsense. But in the meantime, he sat in this bar, drinking as he waited. It was somewhere out of the way, and he doubted anything bad would happen in here. He wanted to be away from this island of crazy as quickly as possible.

Then the door opened, getting Gerard's attention. A sweet little old lady was coming into the bar. Not exactly the kind of person you would expect to come in here. Apparently some woman had just broken two of the aforementioned insane laws, and quietly asked for a drink. Gerard rolled his eyes. "Seriously? People actually reinforce those laws? Man, I know the queen helped rebuild this place, but do they really have to go along with her insanity?" Apparently he had said the wrong thing as suddenly a glass was slammed down in front of him, the bartender glaring angrily at him. "Show some respect! The queen rebuilt this island from ruin! What's a couple of extra laws to maintain the order of this place?" "Okay okay, I'm just saying," Gerard murmured. Guess talking bad about the queen was a sore spot for the locals here. Good thing there wasn't a law against it. Just everything else.

Well, at least someone agreed with him on his comments. The old lady who had come in laughed, earning some of the ire of the people in the bar. But who would be willing to attack an old lady? No, they'd rather reserve their violent tendencies for the rather insufferable man in the bowler hat. Still, it was nice to see someone who had a friendly ear for him. As the old woman hobbled to the table, Gerard pulled out a chair for her to sit. No sense in being rude, especially since he doubted anyone else would help her.

"Nah, just someone passing through. Though to be honest, I'd rather have stopped anywhere but here. But what can you do when you've got a massive hole in your boat?" A couple of the officers ran past the bar, apparently on the hunt for someone. Maybe that woman the old lady mentioned. He rolled his eyes as they ran off. "Seriously, these laws are so ridiculous. It's unnecessary, and it gives the island a bad reputation." he sat back in his chair, "I mean, where I'm from, we don't even have any marine presence there. And yet we get along just fine. I mean, sure, we have pirates coming through often enough, but they know to respect the place, and people can make a decent living there. Shows how a decent life can be lived just by being good, instead of having laws constricting you."

He thought back to Spider Miles. How was the place going, now that he was gone? He couldn't help but feel a little homesick. But it would do him no good to head back now. His journey had only just begun. He gave a small shrug. "Sorry about that. The name's Gerard. What's yours grandma?"

The great town of white once known for its splendor now recognized more for tragedy, genocide, and hard laws. Most people who were now populating the island didn’t share a deep history with Flevlance, but had migrated here after it had been restored. A place built around the mining industry gave life to the many businesses that used the lead. It was a good thing that Aloeus wasn’t much older, had he been he probably would’ve come when amber lead was still toxic. Thankfully there was now a cure had the monarchy and World Government acted sooner an island could have been saved. The unique form of ’justice’ might not have taken root. Aloeus had decided to come Flevalance as a part of his revolutionary work. Even though the island was once again prosperous. Citizens weren’t being treated fairly and the monarchy that caused this island to fall was back in charge. It had also piqued his interest as a thief there was valuable information and goods to be obtained in this kingdom.

Even through the lenses of his tinted goggles it was easy to see brilliance of the light reflecting off the town’s buildings. All around people moved with an unnatural since purpose and rigidness. Posted on a bulletin board were the laws unique to this country. Many were ‘normal’ but the rulings were harsh. Secretly Aloeus wondered why a cheetah. Police officers took no notice of him as they ran past it was with great care that Aloe managed to avoid being trampled, without causing injury to them.

Pushing open the bar door the tension in the air was high. It appeared two of the patrons were garnering most of the attention. It was unlikely that anyone would take notice of him. That thought didn’t go over well with Aloeus. “Why so glum everyone!? Turn on the music!” Aloeus would call out. Looking directly to person behind the bar he called out “how about a mug of something frosty and plate of whatever is good.” Although there were a few people in the place that could connect Aloe as the source of the demands most would remain oblivious and confused. Taking notice of the odd paring of Gerard and Elpheba, Aloeus remarked “Show your old lady an enjoyable time she isn’t dead yet”! It wasn’t clear whether Aloe was referring to Elpheba as Gerard’s mother or even girlfriend but no offense was meant.

It seemed the little old lady was of the mindset the marines should go and help out Spider Miles, though honestly Gerard wasn't sure why they'd both. The pirates weren't exactly running around and pillaging everything. And besides, marines weren't exactly people an up and coming criminal like himself would get along with. Still, he wasn't going to judge her for it.

No, what REALLY got Gerard's attention was that the old lady told him she was only twenty one. It was at the point Gerard had decided to take a drink, and almost choked on his alcohol. "T-Twenty One!?" How was this possible? Was it some sort of disease? Did she do some hard drugs in your youth which caused her to age prematurely? He cast a glance at the beer he was drinking, looking at it like it was poison.

Thankfully the topic changed as Elpheba brought up a familiar name. Gerard blinked. "The Scrap Heap Pirates?" He had heard of them. They were a pirate crew that had set up shop on Spider Miles. "I heard of them,but I don't know too much about them. Just because pirates were everywhere on Spider Miles didn't mean an hung out with them." Well, not entirely true. He did drink with some on occasion, but nobody like the Scrap Heaps. He cast the 'old' woman a wary look. "What business do you have with them anyway?"

It was at that point a loud voice shouted out around the bar. Gerard blinked, trying to find the source, but not having much luck, until the voice addressed them directly. His eyes turned downward to see a very, VERY small person addressing them with a big grin on his face. He slowly looked back at Elpheba. "Elphi...either this beer is WAY stronger than I gave it credit for, or there is a tiny person yelling at us." He honestly hoped he wasn't hallucinating.

The barkeep hadn’t initially connected the dwarf as being the source of the request but had immediately went to work fulfilling his request. Aloe had picked out a spot in the center of the adjacent to the old woman and her beau. Jumping from chair to table he settled, sitting cross legged on table’s surface.

Aloe had been called all sorts of names but hearing them often didn’t piss him off any less. Raising a tiny glove covered hand Aloeus squeezed it until his hand went white and knuckles gave off a faint cracking sound inaudible to even most animals. Taking in a breath, while lowering his fist, it seemed as though he had calmed down. With a quick hard thump of his tail would cause the table crack under the dwarf’s strength spreading not far away from him, without compromising its integrity. Pointing at Elpheba he laughed albeit sarcastically “looks like this old bat has one hell of a mouth on her.” Aloe’s argumentative nature and unregulated strength tended to leave buildings in serious need of repair. With business to attend in Flevance he would stay his hand. “I’ll have you know I am a grown man, Cougar… It’s just like a big him to talk out their ass.” Although ass wasn’t explicitly a curse word some patrons stirred uncomfortably at the repercussions that this conversation might have.

At some point the music had turned Aloeus didn’t know the words to it but was quite a catchy tune. The barkeep would come out with large plate of curry fish and a beer, likely whatever was on tap. Staring blankly he didn’t see still didn’t see his new patron. Taking a notice of the man’s confusion he gestured towards the dwarf.  Looking back he waved to waiter and called out cheerfully with a surprisingly deep “over here,” waving his hand as if that would have made much of a difference. Walking over the barkeep hesitated and looked suspicious as if this was some elaborate joke. But all he would do is request payment and once the money had been thrown out he would put the food and drink down collect the money and walk back, casually looking at the dwarf as he made his way.

It seemed that the little guy didn't take too kindly to Elphi calling him a 'midget', as the little guy climbed up onto a table, and cracked his knuckles...quite loudly actually. It almost looked like there was going to be a fight for a second, but he seemed to calm down enough and just retorted with a sharp verbal barb at the older woman. Really, while Gerard wasn't one to want to see an old lady fighting a dwarf (even if it would have been hilarious to watch), he was curious as to what the dwarf could do. He hadn't heard much about them, apart from the fact that they were, well, tiny.

As the little guy got his order and paid for it, Gerard thought of perhaps grabbing a bite to eat himself. He wondered what else this place served. "Hey guy, how about a couple of menus over here?" he called to the bartender. He wasn't sure if Elphi was hungry, but why the hell not? Just to be polite after all. However, he was simply met with a cold stare from the bartender, who simply grabbed a couple of menus and tossed them onto the table, looking at the pair like they were trash. Gerard's eye twitched at the rudeness. Ok, so he insulted their queen whom they seemed way to loyal to, but that was no reason to be a dick about it.

Without another word, Gerard picked up his menu, taking a look through it. Standard bar food, but really Gerard wasn't look at anything fancy. That fish made him hungry. "So, what do you think of the tiny guy over there?" he murmured to Elphi in a hushed tone.

With a smile bigger than he himself Aloeus picked up the glass set before and drank a swig. ‘Size doesn’t matter she said, Aloe was prepared to show even her just how true that statement was.

As the door pushed open Aloues immediately took notice of their uniforms and facial express. Looks like they aren’t hear for lunch. I should take this to go. Putting down the glass in exchange for his plate of food he carefully balanced it and placed the fork in his mouth, preparing to sneak and finish his plate. The reality was that two more bites and he would have been completely full and the rest of the food and drink would have gone to waist. It was then that barkeep said “And the tiny one too.”

“You BITCH (I already paid)” Aloe yelled through gritted teeth holding the fork, as a gun drew on him.  Now technically Aloe was actually guilty of something an unfair law is still law but he was sticking around for someone to get off to this twisted justice system.

To the normal person fear dictated that you run away from someone with a gun at this distance that wasn’t the play.  Grinning with his hands still in the air, holding both plate. Pushing the plate into the air and propelling himself towards the solider with his gun trained on him, Aloe jumped into a spin as a shot went off, as curry fish started to rain down. The bullet was faster but the soldier wasn’t, the bullet hit where the dwarf was just a moment before, glass shattered and food spread everywhere.  Wrecking Ball! Hitting the assailant square in the chest it would be almost as though he himself had gotten shot. “If you won’t stand up for what is right, clear out!” Aloes called to the patrons of the bar. “Asshole lives (Your lives) matter too. It was strange speech but he had expressed the basics of what he wanted to convey, that the citizens lives mattered. Despite having been sold out Aloeus wasn’t interested in their harm. Plus there was no telling how the others, mainly Gerald, would defend themselves.  Hearing the scream Aloeus moved to defend the old lady but it looked like she had things covered seeing a guard was like down holding his crotch. Aloe smiled he couldn’t help but be impressed.

Skill:

Gerard scowled as guardsmen came into the restaurant, intent on arresting them on trumped up charges. Since when the hell did insulting the royalty become a crime? To make things worse, the damn bartender also pointed out the little guy. What the hell did he do?

Gripping his cane, Gerard stood up as the guards trained weapons on them, moreso on him than anyone else. Guess they saw him as the bigger threat. "Oh woe is me. Whatever shall I do?" he said overly dramatically. It was at that point though that things exploded. The dwarf shot at his guard, dodging the gunshot and knocking his ass flat. Meanwhile, Elphi seemed to deliver an electric shock right to a guard's balls. Did her cane have a tazer or something? Gerard smirked at the sight.

Not to be outdone, he advanced on the three guards, who were caught off guard by the surprise attacks. Seeing the dapper man advancing on them, one of them brought up his weapon and fired. Gerard paused as the bullet passed right through him, his body seemingly like mist...

...and into the bartender behind him.

Gerard looked over his shoulder, just as the guards were. The bullet had hit the man right between the eyes. There was a moment of silence as he slumped to the floor. Gerard turned to the guard that fired the shot.

"Ok, just so we're clear, that one's on you." He then swung his cane hard, catching the guard on the side of his head. With a dull ring of metal on bone, the guard slumped to the floor. Gerard turned his attention to the remaining guards, who were probably regretting their life choices right now.